Carbon-Monoxide in the Galactic Center: a Complete Survey of Carbon-Monoxide Emission in the Inner 4 KPC of the Galaxy.

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The first well-sampled, large scale survey of 12CO (J = 1 to 0) emission from the inner 4 kpc of the Galaxy is presented and used to study the distribution of molecular clouds and the kinematics of the molecular gas in the inner Galaxy. The survey samples a 4^circ wide strip along the Galactic equator from 1 = -12^circ to 1 = 13 ^circ. The over 8000 spectra obtained with the Columbia University Southern millimeter telescope (La Serena, Chile) have a velocity resolution of 1.3 km s^{-1}, a rms sensitivity better than 0.12 K, and are spaced by approximately one beamwidth (8.8'). This is the first survey to encompass the complete latitude and velocity spans of the CO emission from the inner Galaxy. The survey is presented as a collection of 1-V, b-V, and 1-b maps. Several new CO features were observed, and the molecular counterparts of the classic H I structures appear with unprecedented clarity owing to the dense sampling, high sensitivity, and extended latitude coverage of this survey. Features with the largest CO luminosities and velocity widths in the inner Galaxy, outside the nuclear region, were fully mapped and analyzed. The largest of these objects are located at (1, b) = (3.2^ circ, 0.3^circ), and (5.3^circ, -0.3 ^circ), in a zone previously considered almost devoid of CO emission. Their respective CO luminosities exceed 8% and 3% of the CO luminosity of the inner 500 pc of the Galaxy, integrated over all observed latitudes and velocities. Their velocity widths reach 140 and 100 km s^{-1} (FWHM), respectively. We argue that these features are peculiar molecular clouds located in the vicinity of the Galactic center, and that their large internal kinetic energies (of the order of 1054 ergs) may have originated in a Seyfert-like event at the Galactic nucleus about one million years ago. Molecular clouds in the surveyed area were identified and catalogued. The inclination and thickness of the molecular layer in the inner Galaxy were measured and their relevance to current models of the region discussed. A lower limit for the surface density at the center was found, and a CO rotation curve was calculated and compared to available H I rotation curves.

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